This chapter discusses the participation of the black church in the HIV/AIDS crisis. Some churches, such as the First A.M.E. Church of Los Angeles, actively promote the use of condoms as part of ...
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This chapter discusses the participation of the black church in the HIV/AIDS crisis. Some churches, such as the First A.M.E. Church of Los Angeles, actively promote the use of condoms as part of their prevention programs. The personal nature of the HIV/AIDS crisis is further illustrated at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta and the Brookland Baptist Church in South Carolina. After some initial hesitation, the black church is responding nationwide to the crisis by reaching out to the community, secular agencies, families, and individuals caught up in the epidemic. Specifically described are the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Southern Christian Leadership Conference Initiatives, and black churches in Washington. Furthermore, the health objectives for the Year 2000 are presented.Less

The Black Church Confronts the HIV/AIDS Crisis

Andrew Billingsley

Published in print: 2003-03-27

This chapter discusses the participation of the black church in the HIV/AIDS crisis. Some churches, such as the First A.M.E. Church of Los Angeles, actively promote the use of condoms as part of their prevention programs. The personal nature of the HIV/AIDS crisis is further illustrated at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta and the Brookland Baptist Church in South Carolina. After some initial hesitation, the black church is responding nationwide to the crisis by reaching out to the community, secular agencies, families, and individuals caught up in the epidemic. Specifically described are the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Southern Christian Leadership Conference Initiatives, and black churches in Washington. Furthermore, the health objectives for the Year 2000 are presented.

This chapter examines the activities of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) from 1991 to 1996. It first describes the BSLN's parent organizations, the Black Community Crusade for Children ...
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This chapter examines the activities of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) from 1991 to 1996. It first describes the BSLN's parent organizations, the Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC) and the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), and looks at the BSLN's leadership development and popular education programs. The BSLN represented an extensive effort on the part of post–Civil Rights student and youth activists to develop a federated youth formation that could address poverty, racism, and public health crises in low-income black communities. Through its Ella Baker Child Policy Training Institute (EBCPTI) and Advanced Service and Advocacy Workshops (ASAWs), the BSLN trained over six hundred black students and youth in direct action organizing, social movement building, voter education, child advocacy, and teaching methodology and developed freedom schools in dozens of urban and rural jurisdictions.Less

The Origins of the Black Student Leadership Network

Sekou M. Franklin

Published in print: 2014-07-11

This chapter examines the activities of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) from 1991 to 1996. It first describes the BSLN's parent organizations, the Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC) and the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), and looks at the BSLN's leadership development and popular education programs. The BSLN represented an extensive effort on the part of post–Civil Rights student and youth activists to develop a federated youth formation that could address poverty, racism, and public health crises in low-income black communities. Through its Ella Baker Child Policy Training Institute (EBCPTI) and Advanced Service and Advocacy Workshops (ASAWs), the BSLN trained over six hundred black students and youth in direct action organizing, social movement building, voter education, child advocacy, and teaching methodology and developed freedom schools in dozens of urban and rural jurisdictions.

This chapter extends the discussion of the actions of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) by highlighting the group's activities from 1993 to 1996. It specifically analyzes three organizing ...
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This chapter extends the discussion of the actions of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) by highlighting the group's activities from 1993 to 1996. It specifically analyzes three organizing initiatives, the first of which is the Summer Freedom School program. Freedom schools, or alternative educational institutions for poor children, were utilized as pedagogical tools of protest for promoting children to challenge inequality. The second organizing initiative is the campaign against gun violence, a problem which became rampant during the 1990s. Together with the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and the Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), the BSLN developed a strategy to reduce gun violence among youth, while connecting this effort to ameliorative juvenile justice policies. They lobbied for harsher prison sentences, putting more police officers on the street, and the death penalty for juveniles. The last initiative examined are the organizing activities in three regions: New York Metro, North and South Carolina, and California.Less

Organizing for Change

Sekou M. Franklin

Published in print: 2014-07-11

This chapter extends the discussion of the actions of the Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN) by highlighting the group's activities from 1993 to 1996. It specifically analyzes three organizing initiatives, the first of which is the Summer Freedom School program. Freedom schools, or alternative educational institutions for poor children, were utilized as pedagogical tools of protest for promoting children to challenge inequality. The second organizing initiative is the campaign against gun violence, a problem which became rampant during the 1990s. Together with the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and the Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), the BSLN developed a strategy to reduce gun violence among youth, while connecting this effort to ameliorative juvenile justice policies. They lobbied for harsher prison sentences, putting more police officers on the street, and the death penalty for juveniles. The last initiative examined are the organizing activities in three regions: New York Metro, North and South Carolina, and California.

This chapter examines the intergroup tensions among the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), and Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN), as well as the ...
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This chapter examines the intergroup tensions among the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), and Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN), as well as the intraorganizational tensions that existed inside of the BSLN which led to its collapse in 1996. There was increasing skepticism among BSLN members, particularly among its leadership, about the commitment of the BCCC and CDF in supporting the youth formation's agenda and programs. Their skepticism increased after the CDF announced plans to launch the Stand for Children campaign in 1996 that targeted welfare reform legislation being deliberated by Congress at the time. Although the campaign had good intentions, it may have highlighted the challenges of institutional leveraging. The Stand For Children campaign neutralized the BSLN's program, which, in turn, encouraged its leaders to push for greater organizational autonomy. After the BCCC resisted the BSLN's attempts at exercising greater control over its agenda, the youth organization disbanded in August 1996.Less

The Collapse of the Black Student Leadership Network

Sekou M. Franklin

Published in print: 2014-07-11

This chapter examines the intergroup tensions among the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), and Black Student Leadership Network (BSLN), as well as the intraorganizational tensions that existed inside of the BSLN which led to its collapse in 1996. There was increasing skepticism among BSLN members, particularly among its leadership, about the commitment of the BCCC and CDF in supporting the youth formation's agenda and programs. Their skepticism increased after the CDF announced plans to launch the Stand for Children campaign in 1996 that targeted welfare reform legislation being deliberated by Congress at the time. Although the campaign had good intentions, it may have highlighted the challenges of institutional leveraging. The Stand For Children campaign neutralized the BSLN's program, which, in turn, encouraged its leaders to push for greater organizational autonomy. After the BCCC resisted the BSLN's attempts at exercising greater control over its agenda, the youth organization disbanded in August 1996.

America’s First Black Socialist: The Radical Life of Peter H. Clark is a political and intellectual biography of one of the foremost activists, intellectuals, orators, and politicians in 19th century ...
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America’s First Black Socialist: The Radical Life of Peter H. Clark is a political and intellectual biography of one of the foremost activists, intellectuals, orators, and politicians in 19th century African-American history whose life is a testament to the black radical intellectual and political traditions. As a black radical intellectual, Peter H. Clark (1829-1925) used education, oratory, and editorials to confront the American conscience, critique the hypocrisies in the national discourse, and articulate a radical, more inclusive, democratic, and egalitarian vision of America. As a pioneer of the black radical political tradition, he used radical political ideas to forge a path to full and equal citizenship for his people. He embraced everything from radical abolitionism to revolutionary armed violence to socialism. As the first known black socialist, Clark was just one of a few native-born American leaders in a movement dominated by German immigrants. He became one of the most influential of the American socialists and his socialist lectures between 1876 and 1879 stand as the foundation of early black socialist thought. Although he never held a formal political position, Clark proved to be an astute politician who used both parties as tools to get what he wanted for African Americans and himself: political power. He exerted great influence on legislators, Ohio governors, Presidents, and Supreme Court Justices-- all of whom knew him personally and sought his help in courting the African-American vote. In his quest for power, he employed every strategy imaginable, including critiquing his party from within, joining factional and third parties, playing machine politics, advocating political realignment and political independence, and bribery. This book ultimately chronicles the rise and fall of a man who became corrupted by an unrelenting quest for political power.Less

America's First Black Socialist : The Radical Life of Peter H. Clark

Nikki M. Taylor

Published in print: 2013-03-12

America’s First Black Socialist: The Radical Life of Peter H. Clark is a political and intellectual biography of one of the foremost activists, intellectuals, orators, and politicians in 19th century African-American history whose life is a testament to the black radical intellectual and political traditions. As a black radical intellectual, Peter H. Clark (1829-1925) used education, oratory, and editorials to confront the American conscience, critique the hypocrisies in the national discourse, and articulate a radical, more inclusive, democratic, and egalitarian vision of America. As a pioneer of the black radical political tradition, he used radical political ideas to forge a path to full and equal citizenship for his people. He embraced everything from radical abolitionism to revolutionary armed violence to socialism. As the first known black socialist, Clark was just one of a few native-born American leaders in a movement dominated by German immigrants. He became one of the most influential of the American socialists and his socialist lectures between 1876 and 1879 stand as the foundation of early black socialist thought. Although he never held a formal political position, Clark proved to be an astute politician who used both parties as tools to get what he wanted for African Americans and himself: political power. He exerted great influence on legislators, Ohio governors, Presidents, and Supreme Court Justices-- all of whom knew him personally and sought his help in courting the African-American vote. In his quest for power, he employed every strategy imaginable, including critiquing his party from within, joining factional and third parties, playing machine politics, advocating political realignment and political independence, and bribery. This book ultimately chronicles the rise and fall of a man who became corrupted by an unrelenting quest for political power.